our little magpie

[hobble]

HI,
have noticed we have a small magpie who is always alone, almost seems tame.
Shares food with the squirrels and is being picked on by the blackbirds........
It has dappling of purple at the top of its tail feathers and seems shorter in the body than other magpies. Any Ideas?
Am very new to this site.

[tigger]

Welcome to WAB hobble.

Is there any way you can take a photo of it, and post it here?

If you have trouble, just shout and we can help you.

Jane

[ron1863]

A photo would really help as Magpies are generally very shy birds

[ron1863]

Oh, and welcome to WAB - I didn't realise that this was your first post.

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Some Magpies can be very tame, especially if they've had contact with humans They are very clever birds, same as most the Crow family, with enough about them to solve problems

[naturelover]

hi hobble welcome to the site,are you sure its a magpie,only the purple on its tail sounds a bit ify,also you said the blackbirds scared it off,i would have thought the other way round,because magpies steal baby blackbirds and blackbird eggs,so if that was the case would they not scare the magpies away from their nests.

[hobble]

Hi,
thanks for the welcome. Will try to photograph him/her soon.
I am sure it is a magpie. Last Spring for the first time in 25 years our garden was home to 4-5 baby magpies. I spent a lot of time shooing them away as we also had baby blue-tits, great tits, two broods of robins and baby jays.
It was with sadness that two of the jays were killed, one with it's head removed.
What could have done this?
I know magpies can be horrid to baby birds and eggs, jays also. I have never heard of Jay's being attacked.
I spend a lot of time in Spring protecting all these birds, it takes a lot of time!
Probably be too busy to post news then.

[naturelover]

i know what you mean about chasing magpies away,i have done that many times and i know when they are about by the noise the blackbirds make.

[Lincs Yellowbelly]

Originally Posted by hobble

Hi,
thanks for the welcome. Will try to photograph him/her soon.
I am sure it is a magpie. Last Spring for the first time in 25 years our garden was home to 4-5 baby magpies. I spent a lot of time shooing them away as we also had baby blue-tits, great tits, two broods of robins and baby jays.
It was with sadness that two of the jays were killed, one with it's head removed.
What could have done this?
I know magpies can be horrid to baby birds and eggs, jays also. I have never heard of Jay's being attacked.
I spend a lot of time in Spring protecting all these birds, it takes a lot of time!
Probably be too busy to post news then.

It's not really a case of Magpies being Horrid, it's just them doing what they have to do to survive in this world Magpies will eat just about anything they can get, and at breeding time small baby birds are a very good source of food for them

[hobble]

Hi,
Still trying to photograph the little magpie, every time I grab my camera he's gone. Will have to leave the camera close to the sink. Have to get the window opened quietly too, I will get there. At least he's still around.